It wasn't out of pure choice. The eastern hemisphere had the benefit of horses that allowed for more communication between peoples. The Americas had no large beasts of burden, so any communication travels at a walking place. This led to native tribes being rather isolationist. Agriculture existed in the Americas down in Latin and South America, where the seasons are less extreme, but didn't spread north very far.

If he does go too court, will he be tried as a minor?

Strange, I would have assumed her skull was so thick it would have obliterated the tree